Infinite Stratos Zero
by Kotei no Yami
Summary: "Why? WHY ICHIKA! How... how could you do this?" he showed me those shiny reddish-brown eyes that were my source of strength to this day. Eyes that were so... sad. He opened his mouth and spoke in a tone that was so alien. "Do you really think THIS is what our mother gave her life for... Chifuyu!" And that was when I saw the tears cascading down his cheeks. "SHE'S OUR SISTER!"


A young woman, clad in red mechanical armor clashed with a white machine, her twin Katana collided with a pure white angel like machines fists.

"Ichika, now!" she shouted. At that moment a young man around the same age as the girl flew in-between the two, breaking up their clash. The young man, now known as Ichika, wore similar white and blue armor, his sword lashed out against the white machine. His blade, made purely of glowing blue energy grazed the machines chest. The machine countered by firing multiple energy blasts from its wings. The young man dodged the majority of the blasts, but a few managed to grace him.

"Do it Laura!" the young man called out, his eyes to the island below him. More specifically, the silver haired girl in black and red armor on the island. "Jawohl!" the girl responded, clearly of German descent. A huge RAIL CANNON perched on the girls right shoulder lowered and fired at the white machine.

The machine dodged and set its sights on the black-clad German. A mistake seeing that the young man was able to damage its left arm with his energy blade, rendering that limb useless. He couldn't help but smirk at the irony.

The machine's eye glowed blue as if angered and kicked Ichika away, and charged a laser barrage. Before it could fire, multiple beams of blue energy hit the machine right between its metal wings.

"I've got your back, Ichika-san!" A blonde haired young woman said with determination in her voice. She had armor that was similar to the rest of the group, but it was blue. She seemed to be manipulating four flying drones that fired at the white machine from multiple directions.

The machine was able to dodge all the beams now that it was paying attention. It turned around and conjured a hexagonal shield just in time to stop a thick blast from causing any damage.

"C'mon! Give it one more try!" A brown haired girl, in dark pink and black armor shouted to the rest of her team. Anything the group was going to do however, was stopped as the machine spun rapidly, firing laser after laser in all directions. Just as the brown haired girl was about to get hit by the lasers, an orange blur knocked her out of the way (sadly, this isn't Naruto T.T). "Hurry, Ichika! We can't hold on!" another blonde young girl yelled.

The angel-like machine just floated there, as if observing the destruction it had brought on. Its sensors picked up another target closing behind it; these humans were starting to become a nuisance.

"YOU WON'T GET AWAY THIS TIME!" Ichika roared, flying at full speed to the machine. A vacant sleeve fluttered behind his left shoulder as Ichika Orimura and the Silver Gospel collided…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hello everyone, and congratulations on getting into this school. I am your sub-homeroom teacher, Maya Yamada." The green haired teacher said. I doubt she could be any older than 20, though if you told me she was a student I'd believe it. She froze up, appearing to be rattled by the child-like curiosity in my reddish-brown eyes.

"S-starting today, you are all first-year students of the IS Academy. As I'm sure you all know, this is a boarding school. Students will be together during and after school hours, so I'm prayerful that we will all get along and help each other, making for an amazing 3 years! N-n-now let's start with introductions, shall we?" Yamada-sensei looked nervous. I wonder why?

Anyways, I leaned forward to get a better look across the classroom. Sure enough I met scowling dark blue eyes with an angry face to match. Top it all off with black hair tied in a ponytail with a green ribbon and you have my Osananajimi… Houki Shinonono!

I tried waving at her like the goofball I know I am with a grin to match, but she just looked the other way. WITHOUT EVEN ACKNOWLEDGING ME! Is she angry? I don't think I did anything to make her mad… did I? It's been 6 years! I wasn't expecting a hello party, but c'mon! The least you could do is say "Hi Ichika" Is that so hard!?

"Orimura-Kun? Orimura-Kun? Orimura Ichika-Kun!" my head snapped around to meet the specaled- specabled- specatiled- she had green eyes with glasses, okay!? "I-I'm sorry for being so loud, b-but we started on the A's and now we're all the way down to the O's. S-s-so won't you tell the class a little bit about yourself?"

"Oh! Sure, sorry." I got up from my seat, and stood in front of the class. Not just any class; a class of nothing but girls. "I'm Orimura Ichika. I'm 15 years old. I like video games, and animals, and swimming, and THE KEY OF AWESOME! And before I learned I could pilot an IS I wanted to be an IS engineer, AND I'M A SUPER HERO! I SHALL NOW AND FOREVER BE KNOWN AS…" I announced to the class while spinning fast enough that I turned into a blur. When I stopped I was wearing an outfit similar to Superman, but where the "S" should be was my bare chest. "ICHIKAMAN!" At my announcement, everyone either sweatdropped or got bloody noses for some reason.

"AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AH HAHAHAHAHAHA!" I laughed triumphantly, until I felt a hand on the back of my head. Next thing I knew, my head was planted firmly onto my desk. "That is not appropriate school attire, Orimura." An angry, yet familiar voice scolded me harshly.

Wait a minute! Tough love with a heavy layer of scolding, mixed in with a touch of excruciating pain… THIS CAN ONLY MEAN ONE THING! "Chifuyu-nee? Zat ar yoo doin her?'

Instead of answering me, she lifted my head up by my hair and slammed my face into the desk, yet again. "It's Orimura-Sensei. Now are you done, or is there anything else that you want to be stupid about?"

"Yes! The Mighty Ichikaman's mighty cranium will not be damaged by this puny desk! The Mighty Ichikaman is MUCH too mighty to be damaged by this insignificant head damage!"

"Is that so?" My sister/teacher/torturer questioned. She repeated the motion of slamming my head into the desk. DID THIS FOOL NOT LEARN HER LESSON THAT THE MIGHTY ICHIKAMAN COULD NOT BE DAMAGED BY SUCH WEAK ATTACKS? Well, that's what I wanted to say at least, until she repeated the motion, again, and again, and again, and then yet again.

"Are you done?" She asked, finally letting go of my head.

"I see you through my skin now!" I said, slightly deliriously. "Your power could very well be on par with THE MIGHTY ICHIKAMAN!..." I slurred as I nearly fell out of my seat.

"Do you want another helping of that punishment, Orimura?"

"NO MA'AM."

"Now, take off that ridiculous outfit and take your seat!"

"BUT I-" I stopped in mid-sentence after the look my surely demonic sister gave. It was the wisest decision of my life. "Y-yes Ma'am" I said dejectedly, and then spun around in the opposite direction of my earlier transformation. When I stopped, I was regular, bland Orimura Ichika... MAN!

"Okay class. I am your homeroom teacher, Orimura Chifuyu. You will refer to me as Orimura-Sensei!" Chifuyu announced to the class. For some reason, everyone started cheering.

The girls then began to spout random fangirl nonsense. Things like "OH MY GOD ITS ORIMURA-SAMA!" "IF YOU WERE A MAN I WOULD WANT YOUR BABIES!" "I WANT HER BABIES RIGHT NOW!" "MAKE US YOUR BITCHES!" and generally stuff like that, though I'm not sure what they were talking about. There are some weird people at this school.

Chifuyu shook her head. "Why do I always get the nutjobs?" Strange, I thought she liked nuts. "Anyways, listen up! Your syllabus for the next six months is memorizing all data related to the IS. When the six months ends, you'll begin practical training in which you will have two weeks to master the basic maneuvers. You got that? Even if you don't understand, say Yes Ma'am!"

"NO MA'AM!" I called out in defiance only to be met by the death glare of Orimura-Sensei/Chifuyu-Nee. I woke up several minutes later with a terrible headache. We then continued class as usual.

I feel dumb for worrying about her. From first generation IS representative, to a high school teacher! I can be so dumb sometimes. Or all of the time.

"Yamada-Sensei, please begin." Chifuyu said, turning to….you guessed it, Yamada-Sensei.

"I _would_ begin explaining what the Infinite Stratos is and its functions…. but let's be honest here. If you didn't know what an IS is, you wouldn't be here" Yamada-Sensei said turning to the reader and then winking suggestively.

"Um, Sensei. I'm not sure you can break the fourth wall like that" I said, raising my left arm which was then put into a Judo-style armlock by Chifuyu "OWOWOWOWOWOWOW! You're gonna rip my arm off!"

"Then shut up! Anyways, Yamada, at least give them a basic explanation."

"Okay! Infinite Stratos, or IS for short. Can only be piloted by women, but not anymore! This dingus can apparently pilot an IS for some reason."

"Yeah, that's me!" I exclaimed, putting my left arm up, only for it to be nearly torn off by Sensei-nee, yet again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After that, Yamada explained a bunch of very basic (for me) things about the IS while I played with my pencil until class ended. Later at lunch, I felt a hundred stares on my back. "Oh my God, it's Ichika Orimura! He's the only man who can pilot an IS!" "If he and I had babies, they would be really stupid!"

"Can we talk for a minute?" I turned and smiled brightly at the sight of Houki. Maybe she wasn't mad at me after all! "Sure, lead the way!" I reply with palpable enthusiasm practically oozing from my voice. Houki had her usual scowl as she lead me to the roof, with me skipping behind her, joyous at the fact that she was not actually angry at me.

When we got to the roof, Houki walked over to the railing and just stood there, never meeting my eyes for some reason. "Oh yeah, so I heard you won the National Kendo Tournament last year! Way to go!" She turned around with an angrier than usual look in her eyes "Where the hell did you hear about that!?"

"Um, the newspaper? Why are you so angry?"

"Why were you reading that newspaper!?"

"Houki, _I_ think that's a stupid question. What does that say about you?" I said in one of my rare serious moments. She turned red and looked away, muttering something called castration. I wonder what it means…

"You know, even though it's been ages, I recognized you right away! Same hairstyle!" I said pointing at her ponytail. She turned away with a weird look in her eyes.

"You don't forget anything, do you, Ichika…." She said, fiddling with her hair. Her cheeks were red too. I hope she's not getting sick!

"How could I forget you, Houki! You're like my bestest friend in the whole world!" I waved my arms for emphasis.

At that moment, the bell rung and the strange feeling that I was about to get smashed repeatedly into a desk welled up in my stomach. "Well, we better get back to class. LAST ONE THERE IS A BOOGERHEAD!" I ran off, leaving Houki with a vein popping out of her forehead and an angry look in her eyes.

In class, we talked about some more of the basic functions of an IS which I understood pretty easily since I had read all of the reference manual before school started. Pretty much, I knew the inner workings of an IS like the back of my hand. I had only used an IS once in my life though. "Do you have any questions Orimura-kun? Are you getting everything? If you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them!" Yamada-Sensei smiled brightly at me. I grinned and shook my head "Nah, not really. I'm getting this pretty easily." She looked taken aback and stammered out "R-really? Not even one question?"

"Nope. Remember, I wanted to be an IS Engineer until I found out I could pilot them. Before I could fly them, I wanted to build them!"

"O-okay Orimura-kun, if you have any questions feel free to ask. I am your teacher after all!" She muttered something under her breath about wanting to give me private lessons but then quickly went back to her usual cheerful attitude. The rest of the class went smoothly and then the break began. I was doodling with my pencil as usual when a blond woman with a strange accent walked up to me.

"May I have a moment?" She asked.

I held up my pointer finger, not turning to her while I put the finishing touches on my drawing of me in an IS fighting an alien on Mars. She was very polite. She didn't say a word until I was done. Though, when I turned to her, holding up my drawing of me blasting a Martian with a MINIGUN, she looked angry for some reason.

"Are you trying to make a mockery out of me, the great Cecilia Alcott!? Representative contender for England!? You should be grateful I even took the time out of my schedule to come and talk to you! Don't you think you should act more appropriate towards someone of my status!? You are nothing mor-" I interrupted her while raising my hand. "Question!"

She smirked as if pleased. "Do go ahead; it is the responsibility of nobles to assist the peasants in this world. Ask and I shall answer." She said with her hand on her chest.

"You're a representative contender right? What's that?" I asked honestly. Although, when I finished, half the class must have tripped on something, because they all fell down for no obvious reason.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I CAN ONLY HOPE THAT EVERY JAPANESE MAN IS NOT THIS DEVOID OF COMMON SENSE!" She continued to yell angrily for another 5 minutes until she finally seemed to tire herself out.

"Need something to drink?" I asked looking at her panting form. "That… would be… lovely… thank you" She huffed and puffed. After giving her my water bottle of apple juice, she seemed to calm down. "So are you gonna tell me what a representative contender is or don't you know either?" I asked resting my head on my hands. I was most likely gonna be here for a while.

Her eyes gleamed for a moment before answering me. "They are the elites of the elites, chosen by their country to represent them as IS pilots. Surely someone of _your_ intelligence must be able to understand that. I am one of those elites! You should praise your good fortune to be in the same room with me! Hahahahaha!" She laughed maniacally and put her hand in front of her mouth, yet she wasn't trying to stop herself from laughing. She was a strange person.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, pumping my right fist into my left palm. "That makes sense! Wow you're pretty smart, for an English woman!" Payback. Is. A BITCH!

"Are you making fun of me now?"

"Well, you did kind of call me a 'Japanese Man' like three times, so it's only fair."

"I heard you were the only male in the world who could control an IS. I didn't expect you to be this much of a disappointment!"

"Yeah, I get that a lot." At this she seemed a little surprised, and her eyes softened a bit.

"Well, no matter! Since I am such a remarkable person I will assist you with whatever you need if you come begging with tears in your eyes. It is my duty after all." She said puffing out her chest proudly.

To this, I cracked up. "What's so funny!?" She was angry again.

"YOU SAID DUTY! HAHAHAHAHA" The next couple of minutes were a little fuzzy. I think she hit me a couple of dozen times. After I came to, she was still going on and on about something.

"I defeated an examiner! I am the elite of the elite! You should show me the respect I deserve!"

"I beat an examiner too!" I said cheerily.

She had a shocked look on her face. "WHAT!? HOW!? IMPOSSIBLE! I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE!"

"Well they may have meant you were the only girl who beat one?" I tried to reassure her.

"HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?"

"Do you really want to know?" I said, my eyes becoming sharper as I leaned in closer.

"YES!" She exclaimed. She was probably getting angrier.

"Come here." I said to her, motioning her to lean in close. I then whispered into her ear… "I have super powers…"

"Huh?" Before she was angry, but now it looked like she was about to froth at the mouth.

"It's true! When we fought, a laser burned off my shirt. When she saw me, she got a bloody nose and passed out. I must be able to create shockwaves with my bare chest!" Her face became blank, and it seemed like she wanted to say something but couldn't get the words out. At that moment, the bell rang. Whatever she was going to say would have to be saved for some other time.

"I… we will c-continue this conversation later…" She stumbled off, massaging her temples. Weird, a lot of people seem to get headaches after they talk to me. IT MUST BE MY SUPER POWERS! I must learn to control them better. With great power comes great lunch! Wait, no that isn't it. Oh right, I'm still hungry. Time to find my room and then get some more food in my tummy! You can't save the world on an empty stomach after all. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hmmm… 1025… 1025…. Here it is!" I stood in front of a door that had the number 1025 nailed to the top. I looked at the piece of paper in my hand and compared it to the number. "Yep, this is my room!" I took a step forward and opened the door to reveal a room that looked like it was something from a five-star hotel. Fancy! "I CALL THE BED BY THE WINDOW!" I yelled to no one in particular and started jumping on the bed. From the bathroom came a soft, familiar voice. A girl in nothing but a towel walked out of the bathroom, drying her hair with another towel.

"Oh hi, you must be my new roommate. Sorry to meet you like this, I just got out of the shower. My name is Shinonono Houki." Just as she finished her sentence, she stopped drying her hair. When she put the towel down, she revealed a very familiar face. HOUKI!

When she saw me, she froze up and her face got red for some reason. "I-i-ichika?" She said with a trembling voice

"H-h-houki" I copied her with a cheerful smile.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM!?" She shouted seemingly at random.

"THIS IS MY ROOM TOO! WHY ARE WE YELLING!?" I answered. This is getting kinda fun! "HEY! THAT MEANS WERE ROOMIES! YAAAAAAAAY! Thank goodness. I thought I was gonna get a roommate I didn't know. Although, I don't think Houki felt the same… considering she's currently attacking me with a Bokken.

She leaped toward me with the Bokken leading (a Bokken is sturdy wood in the shape of a sword if you didn't already know). I don't get why she's so mad. It's just as much my room as it is hers. And I'm not the one in nothing but a towel! She is! But anyway if I don't do something I'm gonna get hurt. Side-stepping her thrust, I followed up by grapping her wrist and sticking my leg out so she loses balance. I reached down with my other hand and grabbed the back of her knee. Using her own momentum against her, I threw her onto her bed. While she was still dazed, I jumped so I was sitting on her stomach. I grabbed the Bokken out of her hand and pinned her hands above her head.

"It's not nice to attack people with wooden swords! Now I'm gonna wait outside, while you get dressed." I said sternly, getting up to walk out the door. "Oh, and here's your towel. It fell off when I threw you." I said throwing the cloth to Houki, who seemed to have steam coming of her entire body. It didn't seem she heard me, she hadn't moved since I landed on her.

After I closed the door, I heard Houki scream. (sigh) Girls can be so weird. After a bit more waiting the door finally opened with Houki wearing a Kimono.

I stepped inside closing the door behind me. "What are you up to?" I heard Houki ask angrily. Her back was to me, so I couldn't see her expression. "Nani?" I asked tilting my head to the side. "**I SAID, WHAT ARE YOU UP TO!? YOU ASKED TO BE IN THE SAME ROOM AS ME DIDN'T YOU?! I KNEW YOU WERE AN IDIOT ICHIKA, BUT I DIDN'T THINK YOU HAD BECOME SUCH A PERVERT! DON'T YOU KNOW THAT MIXING GENDERS PAST AGE 7 IS JUST WRONG!?**!"

"The only reason me and Chifuyu-nee stoped bathing together is because she moved to Germany. What's a pervert? And no. I didn't ask to be in the same room as you." I said/asked while smiling.

"GGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Yep. Houki's mad again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Class, in two weeks time we will be asked to choose our class representative. They will not only participate in the upcoming class tournament, but also attends student council meetings and committee meetings. Basically your class leader. You can nominate yourself or someone else." Chifuyu-nee announced to the class. It was the next day after the incident with me and Houki. She got mad, attacked me with a Shinai (where she got all these weapons I had no idea), I came out without a scratch, she was exhausted, we set up some ground rules, I got the bed I wanted, and she got to use the showers first. A good night over-all.

"I nominate Orimura-kun!"

"I second that!"

"Me too!"

"Me three!"

WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE THEIR NOMINATING!? THERE ARE PLENTY OF CAPABLE PEOPLE IN THIS CLASS! That blonde girl from yesterday! What was her name? uuuuugh. It was some kind of flower!

"WHAT!? UNACCEPTABLE! I, Cecilia Alcott, will not stand for this! I, Cecilia Alcott, will not accept a boy as our class representative! You can't expect me, Cecilia Alcott, to have to deal with such a humiliation for an entire year! Just living in a country with such an underdeveloped culture is unbearably painful for someone like me, Cecilia Alcott. I AM CECILIA ALCOTT!

I got it! "I nominate Sasoria Abrok!" I said, making everyone give me a weird look. "The English girl." I clarified.

**"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" **She roared in fury. I have a real talent at making girls mad. "This calls for a duel!"

"OOH YAY! Sounds like fun! I never was one for debating!"

"Should you ever lose to me on purpose, I will make you my servant! No! My slave!

"How much handicap should there be?" I said with an excited smirk.

At this she seemed surprised, and then smirked as if pleased. "Oh? Asking for a handicap already?

"No. I was asking how much of a handicap I should give you" At this, everyone burst into laughter. Did I say something funny?

"Orimura-kun is ridiculous!"

"Come on, is he serious?"

"Orimura-kun, that old stereotype of guys being stronger than girls is sooooo 2013."

"I should be the one wondering about giving you a handicap. Japanese boys are so unintelligent?" There she goes again. Going on and on about how great her country is. I'LL SHOW HER!

"You know, if you ask really nicely a real lady might still give you that handicap." I heard someone whisper to me.

"AND A REAL MAN NEVER GOES BACK ON HIS WORD! BELIEVE IT! Where'd that come from?" I asked myself, bewildered.

"You're underestimating her..." I heard the same girl say.

"OR MAYBE I'M JUST OVERESTIMATING ME! DID YOU EVER THINK OF THAT!? HHHHHUUUUUUUUHHHHH!?" I countered getting right in her face.

"Well its settled then." Chifuyu-nee said hitting the back of my head. Oh, good! I can see through my eyes again. "The competition will be held in Arena 3, on Monday. I expect both parties to come fully prepared."

That was the day everything had been set into motion. It was the day everything changed for me and my friends.

But of course, I had planned for it all. Well... most of it.

**Finished! Once again, thank you Aokage for all the help. I wanna try and get the first 5 chapters of Krimson's and Ichika's stories before I start on my others. Please review, flames are welcomed and enjoy!**


End file.
